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Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

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Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#101

Post by nickler »

davemcclure wrote: post #83
nickler wrote: post #50

I'm a restaurateur, and a big fan of dmc, I enjoyed his take, but... I've sketched out probably every idea Dave has illustrated here, and most of them don't make it far enough to even bust out an MVP. I have the advantage of a massive network of restaurant owners, from high end to QSR (quick service restaurant), and an even bigger network of hospitality staff. They chew on them, and spit them up. It's not that it's i…

happy to chat... ping me @davemcclure. if it's really the case that none of your staff at all of your nightclubs / restaurants have these issues, them I'll eat my shorts & buy you a beer (either way, I'll buy u a beer in fact ;) certainly it's been my experience that technology used to improve efficiency may not always be appropriately / perfect, but in MANY use cases where I've had to wait or choose from confusing m…

Awesome Dave,

I've reread your blog post a few times to make sure I've got a real sense of the pains you're talking about. You've got one of our early favorites in there too, I'll tell you how alpha testing went with it.

Pinged you with @fourmojo.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#102

Post by ThadCloudDine »

davemc500hats wrote: post #70
greggman wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The right tool for the job. If I'm going on a date I want a chef. If I'm going to a cheap izakaya in tokyo with 4-12 friends for cheap drinks and snacks I'm perfectly happy with color LCD ordering touch screens which they've had here since 2005. There's a time and place for both. Being able to sit and eat with a group of friends and not have a waiter interrupt your conversation can be a plus

>> "Being able to sit and eat with a group of friends and not have a waiter interrupt your conversation can be a plus" but that's exactly my point. without useful methods of communication with waiters, they will likely interrupt, and/or you will be kept waiting. i'm flabbergasted by the number of people who seem to interpret efficient communication as mutually exclusive from a high-end restaurant or good customer ser…

Here's a more concrete example of how efficient communication would improve your dining experience. (Disclaimer: The startup I founded, Cloud Dine Systems, does this, so take this with a bit of salt since I'm a bit biased.)

You want a refill of your coffee during the breakfast rush. You can either try to flag down one of the wait staff or send a text to the restaurant with "#Table12 can you refill my coffee?" The wait staff gets the text and delivers you a coffee refill. Notice, you sent off the asynchronous message and then continue talking with your friends instead of pausing the conversation to flag down staff. It translates to better service and a better dining experience because the timing matches your needs. Similar examples follow for anything you would flag a waiter down for.

IMHO, one of the more pressing problems is efficient communication within the restaurant. Here's where the gains from better communication are the greatest. But that's a whole different conversation.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#103

Post by ThadCloudDine »

ojbyrne wrote: post #28
minimax wrote: post #21

"Problem #3: Have to Wait FOREVER for Waiter to Order, Re-Order, & Pay. Also, Nothing To Do While I’m Waiting." This is pretty straightforward. If you're in a huge time crunch, order delivery. I'm not sure what it's like in the bay area, but here in Chicago you can order something from grubhub with very little friction.

One of my personal pet peeves is the arrival of the waiter halfway through to ask "how are things here." It's just a pointless ritual, and annoys the crap out of me. I rarely have complaints, or additional requests, and I'll catch their eye if I do.

So this ritual isn't there to annoy you. Sorry that it does. Waiters do because it saves the restaurant money and because not doing so can cost them money.

Huh? How so?

Let me explain. My apologies in advance if you already know this. Checking on your table is called a food check and usually happens a few minutes after your food is delivered. It's to make sure you got everything your ordered, the meat is cooked to your liking, all you sides are there, the stuff you are allergic to isn't on there, etc...

Why?

Here's two example scenarios:

1. The wait staff does a food check and finds a problem which they can fix. If they did not fix it, odds are you won't come back. If you don't come back, the restaurant loses future revenue plus gets bad word of mouth that further reduces revenue. An unfixed problem meal means lower waiter tips too.

2. The waiter doesn't do a food check. Unscrupulous guests will eat almost all their meal and then complain to the manager. The manager often will give the meal away. Because the waiter didn't do a food check, some restaurants will take the cost of the meal out of the waiter's tips.

There's a even worst scenario with food allergies and lack of food checks where people can go the hospital. Hopefully it now makes sense why the ritual is there.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#104

Post by nickler »

pshah88 wrote: post #91
davemc500hats wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thanks

Dave - one thing I know I personally struggle with when implementing new technologies for the restaurant industry is POS integration. More specifically getting the big companies like Aloha to allow me to integrate. What are your thoughts on this as well creating a more 'open' platform POS? One other thing I thought you missed in your article was the trend towards quicker service, specifically for lunch. I have seen a…

pshah88 I've been looking into this, and we found a group out of Calgary called eThor that are working on developing a universal API for restaurant POS.

They have a really interesting solution they're working on that they'll use it with, but I don't think I can say anymore. I do know that they'll be releasing the API to devs and public in the near future.

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#105

Post by nickler »

davemcclure wrote: post #83
nickler wrote: post #50

I'm a restaurateur, and a big fan of dmc, I enjoyed his take, but... I've sketched out probably every idea Dave has illustrated here, and most of them don't make it far enough to even bust out an MVP. I have the advantage of a massive network of restaurant owners, from high end to QSR (quick service restaurant), and an even bigger network of hospitality staff. They chew on them, and spit them up. It's not that it's i…

happy to chat... ping me @davemcclure. if it's really the case that none of your staff at all of your nightclubs / restaurants have these issues, them I'll eat my shorts & buy you a beer (either way, I'll buy u a beer in fact ;) certainly it's been my experience that technology used to improve efficiency may not always be appropriately / perfect, but in MANY use cases where I've had to wait or choose from confusing m…

Here are some thoughts, tear me up :D

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5010842

Re: Deep Thoughts on the Food Tech Revolution by Captain Obvious McClure

#106

Post by ojbyrne »

ThadCloudDine wrote: post #103
ojbyrne wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my personal pet peeves is the arrival of the waiter halfway through to ask "how are things here." It's just a pointless ritual, and annoys the crap out of me. I rarely have complaints, or additional requests, and I'll catch their eye if I do.

So this ritual isn't there to annoy you. Sorry that it does. Waiters do because it saves the restaurant money and because not doing so can cost them money. Huh? How so? Let me explain. My apologies in advance if you already know this. Checking on your table is called a food check and usually happens a few minutes after your food is delivered. It's to make sure you got everything your ordered, the meat is cooked to yo…

I kind of understand that, and its specifically that its a "ritual" that annoys me. I find I appreciate wait staff who keep it to a minimum.
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